Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「夢の糸」 (Yume no Ito) by Akari Kitou
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「誕生, 優希, 目醒める」 (Tanjou, Yuuki, Mezameru)
“Birth, Yuuki, Awakening”
It’s somewhat amusing that winter is kicking off with not one but two ecchi series, and two series at that which showcase both sides of the lecherous continuum. While Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete is all about the cute and funny (read: cute if on the giving end), Mato Seihei no Slave is of the more conventional variety where story is queen king and the vehicle to give reason for all the titillation on screen. And what titillation it is.
Probably the big thing about Mato Seihei no Slave’s opener is that it’s quite sparse on the details. Japan is at the mercy of extradimensional invaders termed Shuuki, the government has established an Anti-Demon Corps to defeat – or at least contain – them when they emerge from the so-called Mato portals, and the average citizen more or less treats it as just another facet of daily living. Average too is a succinct summary of the cast thus far: MC Wakura Yuuki (Hirose Yuuya) is as mediocre as they get, being perfectly average in all categories outside of some talented housekeeping skills and with no hope of seeing a life outside of bureaucratic middle management hell. At least until he gets caught up in a Mato portal and gets a taste of excitement courtesy of a bunch of Shuuki trying to kill him.
What saves Yuuki is naturally the Anti-Demon Corps, or more specifically Uzen Kyouka (Kitou Akari) who’s head of the local division. Determined, headstrong, and with just a dash of gap moe, Kyouka uses her special ability to transform Shuuki and men both into literal slaves (albeit temporarily) to let her effectively commandeer Yuuki, providing him with a massive power boost and enabling them to get out of dodge. Except there’s a little more to it than that. Signing off on said power up apparently requires some lewd acts, and rewarding the slave for doing them even more when all is said and done. When you’re fulfilling a contract with full tongue right out the gate you know exactly what’s coming down the line because as the fights get more intense over time the post-contract requirements will concomitantly grow more demanding (since Kyouka did effectively demand Yuuki become her underling). You can leave it to the imagination the acts (and reactions) Kyouka will have to engage in for the sake of contractual balance.
All of this however (lewd shenanigans included) doesn’t take away from the impression I got of the whole thing being largely underwhelming. While ecchi by its nature is entertaining for either the ribaldry or comedy the former invites, the combination of generic premise, Yuuki’s bland personality, and the overbearing featuring of jarring CGI here really left a bit to be desired. Sure, there’s some room for narrative uniqueness given Yuuki is the veritable househusband to dominatrix Kyouka (not to mention this being a work from Akame ga Kill’s author; over the top chaos is to be expected), but until those aspects alongside Mato Seihei no Slave’s plot are better fleshed out this one definitely is in wait and see territory.
Not that I expect it to disappoint over the course of the next couple of episodes mind you (if you’ve read the source material you’ll know), but when you’re competing with Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete for lewd show of the season, you’re going to need something special to make your presence felt.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「CHA∞IN」by Maaya Uchida
Preview
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While watching Mato Seihei no Slave, the Anime didn’t catch my attention. I didn’t feel like I was teleported to the world of Mato Seihei no Slave; instead more like I felt like things were happening in the show and going over my head.
I think the problem is that, although the manga is quite good (for various meanings of the word “good”), the anime is really badly made.
I agree completely. It felt like the episode was just kinda ‘there’. My expectations might have been too high but this premiere felt disjointed and like a paint-by-numbers version of the manga. Even the stylized parts were fairly jarring and didn’t add much imo.
Coming in as someone who hasn’t read the manga I thought the pacing was way off.
I personally found it really bizarre that in the first minute MC says “This is what I’ll become” and then spoils the end of the first episode. The only way it makes narrative sense is if the MC can see visions of the future that doesn’t seem to be the case.
It also seems odd to say the least that Mato portals are life threatening enough that stats for deaths are reported everywhere yet MC doesn’t know how to deal with it without checking his mobile phone. With most natural disasters like earthquakes etc people are taught how to deal with the situation before they find themselves in a life threatening situation as these first few minutes can be crucial. I’m also a bit unsure how mobile phones have a signal in a separate dimension and if they do then they can geo-locate survivors using them.
I’ll also add that from my first impressions other than housekeeping skills MC has no real talents. So logically female lead might be able to get a much more powerful “slave” tries out a few others with better combat skills.
Currently my thoughts is that combat will be FL putting a slave collar on MC and sending him out like a pokemon while slice of life will be MC accidentally walking in on the FLs in the bathroom etc or getting treated like a doormat so I have fairly low expectations.
@7godeohs
Disjointed probably is the best word to describe it IMO; there’s clearly a plot at work and the ecchi overtones are present, but nothing ever clicked over the course of the episode. A chunk of it can be tied to the speed at which things moved, however it looks like the story is an afterthought to the lewd elements given the difference in production (including writing) values.
This would be fine for a decade or so ago when such series were first being picked up en masse for adaptation, but there’s plenty of examples existing now so it really highlights the weaknesses.